Prime Minister: Slovakia Insisted on the Voluntary Nature of Military Aid to Ukraine at EU Summit

Brussels/Bratislava – The Slovak Republic at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday insisted that participation in the plans of EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas to provide Ukraine with military aid of up to 40 billion euros should be voluntary for member states. Otherwise, Slovakia would not agree with it, said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (SMER-SD) on social media. This was reported by the special correspondent of TASR.

“No one can force Slovakia to spend 250 million euros from its budget on weapons for Ukraine at the expense of other domestic priorities,” the Prime Minister stressed. According to him, all EU member countries share the same view on increasing Europe’s security, but there remain differing positions among them when it comes to supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia.

“Since its inception, the current Slovak government has consistently refused to provide free military aid to Ukraine, and we also refuse to cover Ukraine’s military operations financially,” he stated. When adopting conclusions on Ukraine at the level of the European Council, he insists that they always contain a provision that guarantees each member state the freedom to decide on providing military aid to Kyiv.

According to Fico, such a provision is included in the documents adopted on Thursday at the summit. It is a statement by European Council President António Costa, which all member countries except Hungary joined. According to the Slovak Prime Minister, this is another important step guaranteeing Slovakia that it can behave sovereignly even in the most sensitive foreign policy issues.

“Of course, we will take advantage of the voluntary nature of the initiative and will not send a single cent from our budget for their weapons, but we cannot prevent other EU member countries from helping Ukraine in this way on a bilateral and voluntary basis,” he concluded.

On Thursday in Brussels, the leaders of 26 EU countries supported the joint statement prepared by António Costa, confirming the continuation of support for Ukraine. They also called on Russia to show real political will to end the war it began with its attack in February 2022. Hungary was against such a formulation of the statement.

In its conclusions, the European Council mentioned initiatives to strengthen EU military support for Ukraine, especially Kaja Kallas’s plan regarding the coordination of increased military assistance from member states on a voluntary basis. Kallas admitted shortly before the summit that some major EU countries are against her plan to provide military aid to Ukraine worth 20 to 40 billion euros this year. Therefore, she wants to focus mainly on the delivery of two million pieces of artillery ammunition. (March 20)

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